Switch



April 15, 1958 B. F. 'rRussEL-l.

SWITCH Filed Oct. 4, 1956 FIGI INVENTOR.

BENJAMIN F. TRUSSELL A TTOR/VY United States Patent O SWITCH Benjamin F. Trussell, Shrewsbury, N. J., assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army Application October 4, 1956, Serial No. 614,034

2 Claims. (Cl. 20D- 160) (Granted under Title 35, U. S. Code (1952), sec. 266) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty thereon.

The present invention relates to an electric switch. More specifically the invention relates to an extremely quick action switch and has as one of its objects the provision of an improved acting mechanism for abruptly opening and closing such switches.

An important feature of the invention resides in the fact that the switch herein described makes contact regardless of the speed of the actuating mechanism utilized to operate the switch.

The above and other features of this invention may be further explained and the advantages of operation pointed out by reference `to the following description and further by reference :to the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. l is a view in perspective of the device, and

Fig. 2 is an elevational view partly in cross-section of the device of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, the switch includes a casing 11 `in which the switch proper is housed. The casing is provided with openings through which extend a pair of lead wires 13 and 15 and which in turn are electrically linked to spaced spring contact arms 17 and 19, respectively. The arms are supported by a bracket 21 which is aihxed to the casing in any desired fashion. To the inner, or opposing face of each arm 17, 19 there are secured discrete contacts which mutually oppose each other `as shown in Fig. 2. To the exposed, or other, face of arm 17 is secured a knob 23 that is substantially conical in shape and made of an insulating material.

The switching mechanism proper is coniined and supporte-d in a housing 25 contained in the casing 11. Slidably engageable within a channel in the housing is a bar or operating lever 27, one end of which extends beyond the casing and terminates in a. handle portion 29. The other, or confined, end of the lever 27 is provided with a slot 31 which is in engagement with a guide land stop pin 33, which in turn is aixed to the casing. The pin 33 serves both as a guide for longitudinal movement of the lever 27 and as a limit stop to control the length of travel of the lever. The lever 27 is further provided with a slot 34 within which there is conlined a means for retracting the lever to its normal non-operating position such as seen in Fig. l. Such means for retracting the lever 27 may be a spring-like device or any other type of retracting means which are common and commercially known. The lever 27 at its confined or slot portion end is reduced in width to form a shoulder 35. From the description above it is apparent that the lever 27 can move only in a longitudinal direction, due to the confining action of the pin l33 acting yin concert with the slot 31 and the retraction means within slot 34.

Also slidably engageable in the housing 25 is a tripping hammer designated generally as 37, Iand further characterized by having its forward end, that is the lefthand side as seen in Fig. 2, provided with an elongated beveled face 39 that extends beyond the upper edge of 2,831,093 Patented Apr. 15, 1958 the hammer thereby forming a shoulder 41. As can be seen in Fig. 1, the shoulder 35 of lever 27 and the shoulder 41 of hammer 37 are complementary to each other when the switch is in its non-operative position. The hammer 37 is further provided with a dependent extension 43. The hammer 37 is supported normally, aS

shown in Fig. l, by a spring 45, one end of which is held by a Ifixed pin 47 -in housing 25, while the other end of `the spring is held by a pin 49 in the hammer 37. Rigidly supported by the casing and extending thereinto, is a check or restraining pin 51, which is located substantially between and slightly beyond 4the ends of the combined lever-hammer assembly and the contact arms 17, 19.

The operation of the switch can he readily understood from the following description to be read in conjunction with Fig. 2 `where there is shown on dotted outline the moving action of the hammer during its operation. Prior to its actuation the component parts of the switch are shown in their normal non-operating position in Fig. 1. To actuate the switch, the lever 27 is urged inwardly into the cas-ing. During such forward or inward movement of the lever 27 the hammer 37, because of the engagement of the shoulder 41 thereon, with the shoulder 35 of the lever will oe carried to the left as shown in the dotted lines of Fig. 2. However, while the path of ltravel of the lever 27 will be longitudinal as hereinbefore described the movement of Ithe hammer 37 will be forward and downward due to movement of the beveled face 39 along the check pin 51. It is apparent that such movement of the tripping hammer will cause spring 45 to become elongated and tensed. Such movement of the hammer will continue until the abutting shoulders 35 and 41 of the lever and hammer respectively become disengaged, and `at that instant the hammer is free ofthe restraining action of the shoulder 35 and will be responsive to the action of the spring. In its backward movement the extension 43 of the hammer will strike the knob 23 on arm 17 and momentarily urge the contacts on said arms into engagement, as shown in Fig. 2, thereby closing a circuit. In the assembly of the various components of the switch herein described the spacing and location are critical to effect ecient operation of the device. Accordingly the check pin 51 must be so positioned so as to effect sufficient downward movement of the hammer 37 so that the extension 43 of the hammer will be in a position to strike the knob 23 in its backward travel. It is'apparent that regardless of the duration of time that the lever is held in the position shown in Fig. 2, the switching `action is automatically eiected, being dependent only upon the movement effected by spring 45. While in the particular embodiment of the invention described herein actuation of the switch is accomplished by manual manipulation of the lever 27, it is obvious that the lever can be operated by any mechanical device such as in instances where specific cyclic operation may be necessary.

What is claimed is:

1. In an electric switch, a pair of spring arms having discrete contacts on the inner respective faces thereof, one of said arms having raised means on its outer face which when actuated urges said contacts into engagement with each other and mechanism including a lever and a tripping hammer having respective complementary abutting shoulders whereby when said lever is urged in a forward direction said hammer is carried in same direction, means for guiding said hammer downwardly when said hammer is beyond said raised means, and means on said hammer for urging sai-d hammer in a rearward direction when said abutting shoulders are disengaged whereby when lsaid hammer encounters said raised means in its backward movement the contact-s on said spring arms are urged into engagement.

V2. In an electric switch, a pair of spring arms having discrete contacts on the inner respective faces thereof, one of said arms having raised means on its outer face which when actuated urges said contacts into engagement with each other, and mechanism including a housing, a lever and a tripping hammer slidabiy engageable in said housing, said lever and said hammer having respective complementary abutting shoulders whereby when said lever is urged in a forward direction, said hammer is carried in the same direction, means for guiding said hammer downwardly when said hammer is beyond said raised means, and means comprising a spring secured at one end to said housing and secured to its other ends to said hammer for lurging said hammer in a rearward direction when said References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS .Kling et al. Feb. 19, 1952 

